The international rowing and canoeing season starts tomorrow in Szeged, Hungary, with the first stage of the World Cup. 24 Russian athletes competing in a neutral status went to the tournament.
Among them is one of the most decorated rowers of our time, 19-time world champion, Olympic silver medalist Ivan Shtyl. He will start the Olympic discipline — the "two-man canoe" at a distance of 500 meters. Ivan's partner, as in previous seasons, will be Zakhar Petrov.
Shtyl spoke about the preparations for the season, the new Olympic selection system and high internal competition in an exclusive comment for the ROC press service.
"We are well prepared for the start of the season, but we still need to improve our form in the future, because the most important starts will be at the end. The preparation went according to plan, without failures, all the planned work was completed. The main thing is that all the training sessions were held in the designated places, because we are very dependent on locations — we need a water surface.
The mood for the start is good, the mood is sunny. We hope that this year the weather will not let us down and everyone will have equal conditions in the final races. This is very important for canoeing," the athlete noted.
In this Olympic cycle, the qualification system for the Games was changed in rowing and canoeing. Previously, most of the quotas were distributed based on the results of the pre—Olympic World Championships, and the rest - at the continental qualification competitions in the year of the Games, now the selection will be based on the rating.
Points will be awarded for performances at the KM stages, world championships and continental championships in Olympic disciplines, with only eight results being counted. All this, according to Shtyl, will leave a noticeable imprint on the course of the competition.
"I assume that many national teams are already much better prepared than at the same time of the year in previous seasons. Now we need to try to perform as well as possible in all competitions. Of course, this is great for the audience, as all athletes will fight to the last, and the entertainment will increase. And for us, athletes, this means a serious increase in competition," Ivan said.
However, in his opinion, the need for Russian rowers to show high results at the beginning of the season is not new due to internal competition.
"Especially in our kind of canoe, it was always necessary to reach high speeds in April in order to get to the World Cup stages. It was necessary to perform well there in order to enter the team for the European Championship. And then, at the Russian championship, they had to win a place in the national team for the World Cup. In other countries, where there is no such high competition, this is somewhat easier. If they have one great crew or one leader in mind, then he doesn't need to tear veins at the beginning of the season — he can win his selection at a lower speed and get to the main international starts. Everything is different in Russia. By the way, this season is generally unusual for us, as the national championship was held very early – already in April. This is the first time in all my 24 years in the national team that this has happened. The earliest it was held was in June, and usually later. Now the approach has changed," the athlete shared.
Shtyl and Petrov will start the preliminary races on Saturday, May 9th. The final in their discipline will be held the next day.
Olga Teselko
